1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to web-based conferencing and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for presenting a participant engagement level in an online interaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid growth of the Internet, people are moving to online meetings, presentations and collaboration using various web based tools such as ADOBE® CONNECT® available from ADOBE Systems Incorporated. A typical use case involves a presentation wherein one or more people (referred to herein as hosts) organize the online interaction, and one or more people present a presentation containing content to a number of interested people (referred to herein as participants). The online interaction may be a meeting, collaboration, webinar, or any form of multiparty interaction on the web. As used herein, the term “online meeting” is meant to signify any type of multiparty interaction on the web.
However, online meetings present some challenges due to lack of physical proximity of the people attending the meeting. For example, because participants are not in the same physical location, participants may easily become distracted by events occurring in their immediate environment. Further, a host does not have access to visual cues, such as the sitting posture of participants, participants taking notes, etc. that generally indicate interest levels or attentiveness of the participants. Not having access to visual cues hinders the presenter gauging the engagement levels of the participants in the online meeting and the effectiveness of the communication during the online meeting.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for presenting a participant engagement level in an online interaction.